Mysterious Disappearances That Left Authorities Stumped

What really happened?

These mysterious disappearances are still perplexing even today. Sometimes, people go missing and the clues make sense. The clothes are gone from the closets or a body ends up being found nearby. But sometimes these mysterious disappearances just don’t add up. Sometimes, there are enigmatic clues; sometimes, there are no clues at all. Below, read about five mysterious disappearances that authorities still can’t figure out.

5.Louis Le Prince

In 1890, one of the earliest pioneers in the field of photography hopped on a train headed for Paris. By the time the train stopped, he was gone, leaving authorities to wonder how someone could go missing from a moving train.

The other passengers on the train were interviewed, and no one saw or heard anything suspicious. This was rather unusual in a closed environment like a train. However, what makes this case one of history’s most mysterious disappearances is the fact that all of the doors and windows on the train were tightly sealed, making it impossible for Prince to have leaped from the train. The entire train and the land around the railroad were carefully searched, but there was no sign of Prince. To make this case even more confounding, Prince’s baggage was also missing from the luggage car. As Prince was not seen outside of his own cabin, how could he have taken his luggage from another car?

There have been numerous theories about what may have happened to Prince. It was widely known that he had been experiencing financial problems, so some say that the entire trip was an elaborate suicide. However, if that were the case, why wasn’t his body found? Others claim that a member of Prince’s family, disgraced by his financial difficulties, murdered him aboard the train and snuck his body out in their own luggage. However, as the train was carefully searched and no evidence of foul play was discovered, this seems unlikely.

One of the more dramatic theories about Prince’s disappearance revolves around professional rivalry. While Prince was busy making advances in photography, and American inventor by the name of Thomas Eddison was working to keep up. Once Prince disappeared, Eddison swooped in and took all the credit for inventing motion pictures, even though it was Prince who made many of the breakthroughs. This lends some credence to the theory that Eddison was behind Prince’s disappearance. However, how could he have done it?

4. Beverly Potts

Some mysterious disappearances start out seeming relatively straightforward. The disappearance of Beverly Potts of Cleveland is one of those cases. In August 1951, when she was 10 years old, she went to a local festival with a friend. The friend left early, but Beverly wanted to stay until the performances ended. Tragically, she never returned home. There was a huge search all over the city, but no clues were ever found. It was assumed that she had been kidnapped.

The case went cold until things started to get strange over 40 years later when cryptic letters began to surface. The first letter, found in a home being renovated in 1994, claimed that the writer’s husband had murdered Beverly. However, this letter was determined to be a hoax by an abused wife seeking revenge on her tormentor. Then, in 2000, a newspaper received a total of four letters claiming that the writer had killed Beverly. The letters gave gruesome details about the supposed murder. Authorities believed the letters were legitimate.

The writer of the letters, if they did indeed kill Beverly, may have been struggling with a guilty conscience. In one letter, the writer promised that upon their death, an envelope would be delivered giving even more details about Beverly’s death, including the name of the killer. In other letters, the writer stated that they were planning on confessing and turning themselves in to police. However, the writer changed their mind in the final letter.

The letters were not signed. Authorities studied the letters carefully, searching for clues to the writer’s identity. However, they were unable to glean any additional leads about Beverly’s murderer. Despite the cryptic clues these letters provided, the disappearance of Beverly Potts is still unsolved.

3. Diane Augat

In some mysterious disappearances, the vanishing act itself isn’t all that surprising. One such case is that of 40-year-old Florida resident Diane Augat. Before her disappearance in 1998, Augat led a troubled life. She had been diagnosed with a manic-depressive disorder, but only took her medication sporadically. Her family also believed she had problems with drugs and alcohol. In 1988, her children were taken from her custody. She was arrested several times and placed in temporary psychiatric care. Because of this checkered past, no one was very surprised when she disappeared in 1998.

However, three days after Augat’s disappearance, clues turned up that make this one of the most mysterious disappearances in history. The mysteries started when Augat’s mother received a phone message on her answering machine. She heard someone who sounded like Augat say “Help, help, let me out” and “Hey, gimme that” before the phone disconnected. It sounded like someone had grabbed the phone away from the speaker. On the caller ID, Augat’s mother read only the word “Starlight.” In later attempts to call the number, no one answered.

Two days later, authorities found the tip of Augat’s middle finger near the place where she had last been seen, but there was no other evidence of a struggle there. Earlier searches had turned up nothing. Two weeks after this grisly clue was found, a bag of Augat’s clothing turned up in a freezer of a local convenience store. No one knew how the clothing had gotten there. Over two years later, a local paper published a story about the disappearance, prompting another bag of Augat’s belongings to appear in a different convenience store freezer.

Who planted these items in plain sight? How did they do it without anyone seeing them? Despite these cryptic clues, Augat has never been found, and authorities have no leads.